Suisse Mocha

I used to love Suisse Mocha and it was a regular afternoon treat for me when my kids were little and napping. I haven't bought it in years - I'm not even sure they make it anymore. But it's snowing again today, and it suddenly popped into my mind how good a cup of Suisse Mocha would be on a cold, snowy day. So I created something with ingredients I had on hand (using no sugar, keeping it low-carb) and it tastes how I remember it. I'm not sure if my memory is skewed or not, but I really like what I came up with. It's very similar to my Keto Mocha that I posted about a couple weeks ago, but it uses more cream and has a more mellow flavor. I also used Swerve rather than liquid Stevia, which I think works better. 

2/3 cup prepared coffee (I still had some leftover in the coffeepot from this morning)

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 tsp cocoa powder (I use Hershey's)

1 TBSP Swerve powdered sweetener*

2 dashes vanilla extract

1. Place coffee, cream, and cocoa powder in a large mug and whisk until blended. Heat in microwave for 60-90 seconds, until hot. (Or, combine in a small saucepan and heat on stovetop.)
2. Whisk in vanilla and sweetener. Enjoy!

*This is my favorite low-carb sweetener. The powdered kind dissolves easier than the granulated kind. Use whatever sweetener is your favorite.

Potato Soup for Lent (Vegetarian)

For Ash Wednesday, I really wanted to serve potato soup for dinner, but did not want to use chicken broth because of our Ash Wednesday fast from meat. I also did not want to make potato-cheese soup because we were having grilled cheese sandwiches along with the soup, and that would just be cheese overload. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

I made my own homemade vegetable broth for the first time ever, and it turned out surprisingly good. It worked perfectly to make a hearty, robust tasting potato soup. I plan on keeping veggie broth on hand throughout Lent to use in various recipes that I would otherwise use chicken or beef broth.

Potato Soup - Vegetarian, for Lent

4 potatoes, peeled and chopped

4 TBSP butter

2 medium stalks celery, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 cups strong, homemade vegetable broth*

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Place peeled, chopped potatoes in a medium saucepan and fill with water. Bring to boil over high heat; then, reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add celery, carrots, onion, and garlic. Stir and saute until vegetables caramelize, about 10-15 minutes.
   
3. Add drained potatoes and saute for about 5 minutes. Stir in vegetable broth, heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Use a potato masher to partially mash potatoes and vegetables.
4. Ladle half the soup into a blender and puree until smooth. Add pureed soup back into remaining soup. Heat thoroughly. Can leave on warm stove burner if not serving immediately. 
   
   
   

*Homemade vegetable broth: Place nonstarchy vegetables such as bell peppers, celery, carrots, garlic, and onions, in a big pot and cover vegetables with water (only about 1/4-1/2 inch over the top of the vegetables). Use all of the parts of the vegetable - skins, leaves, stems, etc. No need to chop the vegetables. Add plenty of salt, some pepper (or peppercorns), dried parsley (or fresh, if you have it), and 1 or 2 bay leaves. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower heat and simmer for 1 hour. Allow to cool, then strain broth into a storage jar and discard cooked vegetables.

Instant Pot Beef Stew

I love my Instant Pot and can't believe how easy it is to use. My daughter gave it to me for my birthday in 2019 and I neglected it for over a year, thinking it would be complicated and dangerous! Finally, she came over and gave me some "Instant Pot lessons." I've been using it several times a week ever since. 

Andy and I went out for a walk today through the neighborhood. Everything is still covered in snow, but the streets, driveways, and sidewalks have all been cleared. It was very peaceful and also very cold! Before we left, I made beef stew in my Instant Pot and it kept warm while we were out. Normally I do my beef stew in the oven and it has to cook for about 3 hours to get the meat tender enough. Now I can do it in my Instant Pot in less than an hour. 

You can't beat a steaming bowl of hearty beef stew after coming inside from the cold! 

Ingredients

2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into bite-size pieces

1 cup cut-up frozen green beans

1 cup sliced frozen carrots

2 celery stalks, diced

1 yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 small potatoes, diced

4 large white mushrooms, roughly chopped

1 cup dry red wine (I used merlot)

1 ¼ cups beef bone broth

1 small can (6 ounces) tomato paste

2 TBSP dried parsley

¼ tsp dried rosemary leaves

½ tsp dried thyme leaves

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Directions

1. Place beef and vegetables in Instant Pot.
   
   
2. In a small bowl, whisk together wine, broth, tomato paste, and spices. Pour over beef and vegetables and stir to mix.
   
   
3. Close and set manually for 35 minutes. Allow to release naturally for 15 minutes.

Roasted Cauliflower

I'm really not a cauliflower fan, but I can eat it if it's covered in cheese, or mashed up and smothered in roast beef and gravy. But I found another delicious way of eating it and it's really easy. 

Just made this to add to a casserole I'm going to make later tonight and found myself munching on it like a snack - which is weird because I would never just munch on cauliflower or consider it a snack. But this is actually tasty.

I just chopped up a head of cauliflower, doused it in about 5 TBSP of melted Kerrygold butter, sprinkled it with garlic salt, onion powder, and paprika, and then baked it at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Then I turned the oven to broil and broiled it for about 3 additional minutes, until some of the pieces started to brown. Yummy!

A Winter Storm

My word, the last post I wrote was about being distracted, and then I went and forgot all about my blog for a few days.

The view from my front door, two hours after shoveling my walkway.

Today, we are in the middle of a beautiful winter storm. The snow is falling in huge flakes, which builds up fast. Everything is bright and white and quiet. It started yesterday, and I shoveled a couple of times to try to keep ahead of it. Then I woke up to a seamless white blanket covering our entire yard and street this morning. The snow had stopped even though the weather channel was saying it was still snowing. I went out to shovel again and some of my neighbors had the same idea. We've been so isolated with winter and COVID invading everyone's lives, and I was excited just to see them out and being able to wave and yell hello. 

The only sounds I could hear were shovels scraping throughout our neighborhood. I actually enjoy shoveling. I find it peaceful and satisfying, and love that it's a full-body workout. It took me about an hour to shovel our huge driveway. Toward the end, one of my neighbors came over and said, "I'm going to help you finish!" We kept our 6-feet distance, but worked together on my driveway and had good conversation. We talked about how we both enjoy shoveling snow, we talked about our kids, we talked about work, and of course, we talked about COVID. It was so nice to spend that time with her. I have really missed seeing friends. I've missed in-person conversation and human contact. I am very thankful I have my husband and grown kids and grandkids, whom we continue to see, but I miss being outside of our tiny little bubble. 

When I came inside, I warmed up with a little keto mocha treat. Then the snow started falling again. About two hours after all that shoveling, my driveway and walk way to the front door was completely covered with snow again. I guess I'll get another workout in later!

Here's how I threw my keto mocha together. I loved it.

Keto Mocha

1 cup coffee

1 tsp cocoa powder

2 TBSP heavy cream 

1-2 dashes Better Stevia (liquid)

1 dash vanilla extract

Heat coffee and heavy cream in the microwave or stovetop. Then place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth and creamy.